Monday, October 4, 2021

Selling the Sizzle

Our topic at the SFF Seven this week is "Queries & Synopses: Bane, Benefit, or Both?"

I hate querie. I hate synopsis. To be perfectly honest about it Id w=rather be writing the book, but they ar ncessary evils. Yu cannot sell a book without them, or rther, it's a damned sight harder.

in a perfect world i could sit with an editor over a cup of my preferred beverage and make a sale. It doesnt work that way very often however. Seems that most editors have to show their pitches to a committee who talks about whether or not a project is going to fit with what the publisher has planned. So, yeah, learn to amke a good pitch, and that includes a synpopsis and like as ot a few query letters.

That said, there are endles books out there on this subject and I'll not try to counter the wisdom of those fine authors.

I willl suggest tat you know the following things:

the long pitch: quite literally a full synopsis of your novel. The Medium Pitch: A one page su=ynopsis of your novel. More like what you'd see on the back cover text for your work, it's hitting the high notes and trying to get the editor's attention. This shouod e something you couod say about the work in a conversation. It does not have to ahve great detail, but you better know the story well enough to expaand.

and then there'the Elevator pitch. You have fifteen seconds. Wow the editor enough to have them wanting to continue this cov=nversation. Can you do that? So tell me about your novel in one sentence. Under The Overtree: It's about puberty and monsters and whether or not there is a difference.

Serenity Falls: A town falls victim to a 300 year old curse.

Fireworks: A UFO crashes, and the f=government movesin to make sure what crashed is kept safe from prying eyes.

It isn't always easy, but all three of those pitches worked to sell novels.

Selling your books is part of the process. The synopsis has to be able to sell your work. It's that simple. The rub? Make them interesting and make people care in a much smaller amount of space.

It's October! What are your Halloween plans?

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